Apple, Inc. has confirmed that it is removing some applications
providing virtual personal networks, or VPNs, from its China App Store,
to comply with new Chinese regulations — a move critics say is
capitulating to internet censorship.

Apple confirmed the move in an email to National Public Radio on
Saturday, after several VPN providers announced that their apps had been
removed from the China App Store.

Software made outside China can sometimes be used to get around China’s
domestic internet firewalls that block content that the government finds
objectionable. Critics call China’s “great firewall” one of the world’s
most advanced censorship systems.

VPN apps pulled

“Earlier this year,” Apple said, “China’s MIIT [Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology] announced that all developers offering VPNs must
obtain a license from the government. We have been required to remove
some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations.”

App maker Express VPN said in a blog post that its app was removed from
the China Apple Store, and it noted that “preliminary research indicates
that all major VPN apps for iOS [Apple operating systems] have been
removed.”

The statement continued, “We’re disappointed in this development, as it
represents the most drastic measure the Chinese government has taken to
block the use of VPNs to date, and we are troubled to see Apple aiding
China’s censorship efforts.”

Another
company, Star VPN, also announced it had been contacted by Apple with
the same notice.

China successful

Golden Frog, a company that makes security software, told the New York
Times that its app also had been taken down from the China App Store.

“We gladly filed an amicus brief in support of Apple and their backdoor
encryption battle with the FBI, so we are extremely disappointed that
Apple has bowed to pressure from China to remove VPN apps without citing
any Chinese law or regulation that makes VPN illegal,” said Sunday
Yokubaitis, president of the company.

The Times reports that this is the first time China has successfully
used its influence with a major foreign technology platform such as
Apple, to flex its muscle with software makers.